Why Don't We Steal An Idea From Gridiron?

IT IS generally accepted – American Football is an offshoot of Rugby Football. Similarly, Rugby League split from Rugby Union and since these two games went their separate ways, they have, it might be argued, shown the parent game – Rugby Union – how it is done, when it comes to innovation.

Sadly, in taking-back one RL innovation – defensive alignment – Rugby Union has done itself no favours. The modern defensive set-up, of having an entire team of players strung across the park, as if involved in a giant game of British Bulldog, has done nothing for attacking Rugby Union.

The purists, or maybe its RU's in-built conservatism, best encapsulated in the time-honoured Scottish Rugby moan of: It's aye been and aye will be,” means, suggesting maybe RU could learn something from other forms of football, is not a way of winning friends and influencing people.

BUT – needs must, and, if we are to bring back exciting rugby, then maybe we should see if there are things from other games we could borrow or adapt.

Indeed, I feel RU, at least at the elite level, is back where it was in the 1960s, when, on the back of those 100-plus lines-out in the Scotland v Wales match at Murrayfield, the “Australian Dispensation,” banning kicking directly to touch from outside a team's own 22 (25 as it was in those days of Imperial measure), was banned.

[Can I say here, my own favoured move would not require us to look elsewhere, simply BRING BACK REAL RUCKING, and we would have a better, faster, more-entertaining game.]

But, given we are unlikely to see the return of Real Rucking, what might we do to save our game from stagnation?

Let me get the really left field suggestion out of the way first:

Why don't we steal American Football's Forward Pass?

 

 

Eli Manning passing, I can think of a Scottish 10 who might try this if allowed to

I had a wee look at the history of the forward pass, and it seems it was introduced in around 1906, with President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt a major driver in its introduction – after a year of carnage in the game which reportedly saw 18 players killed and 159 seriously injured.

Legalising the forward pass was a means of opening-up the game and eliminating the mass plays of the time.

OK, Rugby Union in 2020 is not that dangerous. However, this week's eruption of concern over early-onset Dementia does indicate, the game has a problem, which if not tackled soon, will get worse.

Might not allowing the forward pass work as a safety feature in RU today; eliminating the breakdown and the mass defensive lines we see in the modern game? The forward pass might lead to the end of the current fashion for one line of players strung across the field – if a forward pass was an option, some defenders would need to drop into the back field to cover for it, thereby creating more space for the attacking side to actually attack.

 

And, just imagine the roar at BT Murrayfield, if Finn Russell was to unleash an 81st minute "Hail Mary" 40 metre pass to Darcy Graham to win Scotland a Calcutta Cup and Grand Slam.

American Football possession works on the “downs” principle – the side with possession of the football has four downs to advance ten yards. If they succeed, they get another four. Failure leads to the surrender of possession to the opposition.

I don't know if Rugby Union is quite ready for a “four downs” rule – or even Rugby League's “six tackles” rule – where the attacking team has to surrender possession if they haven't scored by going through that number of tackles. But, while there is a great degree of team work involved in multi-phase rugby, watching a team go through over 20 phases, and only advancing less than ten metres is a bit boring. Having the forward pass option could brighten things up.

 

This might have
 

Mind you, and I don't know what Gilbert, the world-leaders in manufacturing rugby balls might make of this suggestion, but, if we bring-in forward passing, there could be a case for reverting to the smaller, slightly-different shaped American Football ball. I doubt if many scrum-halves of fly-halves, the guys most likely to be making forward passes could work it properly with a size 5 rugby ball.

 

 

to become this - however

 

[Another wee thought. Time and again we see a pack playing repeat pick and go from one metre out – against a massed defence. Has no coach ever thought of adapting some of the over the top moves American Football teams use when on “third and goal” snaps?]

Imagine, for instance, having your two best line-out lifters propelling a fast-moving, ball-carrying three-quarter over the heads of the defending side into the in-goal area. That would be spectacular.

I've just had another, as we say here in God's County of East Ayrshire - “rush of shite to the brain.”

Something we might borrow from Ice Hockey – the concept of the “Power Play,” when a miscreant is sent to the sin bin. In ice hockey, when a player is banished to the bin, the opposition loses their one-man advantage the moment they have scored during their period of numerical advantage.

Let's adapt that to RU, but finesse the penalty – a try scored during a yellow card “power play” is, like the penalty try, automatically worth seven points – there is no need for the conversion.

There might also be a case of, as in ice hockey, cancelling the power play once the team with the numerical advantage scores, particularly if the yellow card was shown for a technical law breach.

For a red card, why not try something dear old Allan Hosie used to be very-keen on? Allan's suggestion was, after a red card offence, the foul play would incur the additional punishment of a penalty, taken from the 22, central to the posts – but worth an almost-guaranteed ten points.

While I am on a roll. We really need to look at the driving maul, and sort this out. Let's outlaw the ability to pass the ball backwards – the catcher has to retain possession, thereby allowing the defending side to attack the ball while the maul is in motion.

If the current maul is worked properly, it is well-nigh undefendable – which is basically unfair. This aspect of the game definitely needs sorting-out.

While I am at it, I will repeat my call for a clamping down on the wee slippages which have become the norm – squint feeds at scrums and lines-out, stealing additional yards when kicking to touch, and – those seldom-punished but frequently dangerous tactics - taking-out opponents beyond the breakdown, the “torpedo” entry to the breakdown.

Doing nothing is not an option, we have to do something to make Rugby Union safer, and more-entertaining.